Stone-type slabs require a pickaxe to mine. Wooden slabs can be mined with anything, but an axe is quickest. Double-slab blocks cannot be acquired by normal means or by /give, though it can be placed with /setblock or /fill.

Stone slabs can be found naturally in villages lining the roof of blacksmith shops and inside the Butcher's Shop and the Blacksmith where they form counters. They are also found in strongholds where they are used in some of the stairs, ledges and torch pillars. Sandstone slabs can be found naturally in desert villages, desert wells, and desert temples. Double stone slabs can be found in villages, in the butcher's shop and in blacksmiths. A spruce wood slab serves as a table in igloo basements. Oak, birch, spruce, stone and cobblestone slabs can also be found in woodland mansions.

An example of how upside-down slabs can make redstone travel compactly "up stairs".

Slabs do not block a vertical redstone connection as it is a transparent block.

Slabs are treated as a whole block by other blocks and liquids. Two slabs of the same type can be placed one on top of one another to make a full-size block, but different slab types cannot be mixed in this way.

Redstone can be connected to the wire on the side of the slabs. Redstone placed on top of an upside-down slab can receive signals from an adjacent block of redstone one block lower but cannot transmit signals to it. This is why "ladders" made from upside-down slabs, as pictured to the right, can transmit redstone signals up, but not down.

Mobs see a slab as a full block. Mobs can also spawn on the tops of upside-down slabs and double slabs, but not on lower slabs.

Due to the way blast rays propagate from an explosion, bottom-half slabs provide extremely effective absorption to explosions directly on top of them.

Sneaking only reduces the player's hitbox height to 1.65 blocks, and so does not allow the player to walk over a single slab with one block of air above it, which is 1.5 blocks of space. A player cannot walk from a block of soul sand directly up to a slab without jumping – this applies not just to soul sand, but to any block7⁄8 of a block high or shorter, because the maximum step height of the player is 0.6 of a block. The player can walk off a slab while sneaking, because the sneaking only prevents falling when the distance is higher than one full block.

If a slab is placed underwater, the empty half of that slab's block will appear and act as air. If the slab is upside-down, not only can the player grab a quick breath of air there, but the player can see as clearly as if they were above the surface.

Minecarts on powered rails will not be repelled from a slab. They will, however, be repelled by a slab with a minecart on top.

These old wooden slabs did not burn, and could only be collected with a pickaxe. Wooden slabs were also are not affected by fire and had a stronger blast resistance than wooden planks, which made them a useful building material.

Before the additional slabs were added, a double stone slab would only yield one slab when broken. Since this update, all double slabs yield 2 of their respective single slabs when broken. Destroying double slabs with TNT, however, still only yields single slabs (when the slabs aren't simply destroyed by the explosion).

Before Beta 1.3 came out, stone slabs were made with cobblestone instead of stone, but this update introduced cobblestone slabs to the game and changed the recipes for pressure plates and stone slabs so that there wouldn't be any conflicting recipes.

All types of slabs were now able to be placed upside down and under blocks; these occupy the top half of their block space rather than the bottom half.

The crafting recipe changed so that 6 slabs would be crafted rather than 3. The prior restriction was likely due to the fact that the slab types were differentiated by their damage values instead of by different data values, similar to wood, coal or charcoal, and colored wool.

New slabs were added for the four different types of wood planks, replacing the old wooden oak/"stone" slab. These new slabs were vulnerable to fire, and could be collected faster with an axe than with a pickaxe. Wooden slabs already crafted or placed in the world remain the old 'stone' type.

Slabs interact properly with lighting now; when slabs are placed upside down, they now accept light from light sources themselves, and no longer block light to surrounding blocks; they no longer cast the shadow of a full-sized block.[1]

Jeb states that the smooth stone full half-slab will be re-implemented with a value of 43:8. The smooth sandstone slab will also be implemented, with a value of 43:9. He also stated that they may be obtained legitimately later.[2]

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